That's the message leaders in the hip-hop community are bringing into the schools, hoping to reach kids as young as 8 and 9 years old.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo and Mayor Bill de Blasio have declared this week Hip Hop Against Gun and Gang Violence Week throughout the city and state, and hip hop father and son duo Charles and Randy Fisher teamed up Monday with Jermaine LaMont, program director of the National Hip Hop Summit Youth Council to visit two Staten Island schools, PS 74, Tompkinsville, and PS 18, West Brighton.

"We want young people to become more proactive with regard to gun violence," said Charles Fisher. "We're living in a digital age; we need to get them young. By the time they get to adolescence, its too late for some."

Fisher also brings an anti-gang message to the mix. "They hear a lot about the guns, but the guns and violence go hand-in-glove with gangs. No one tells them about that," he said.

At each stop, they asked students for a show of hands, asking whether they knew anyone who has or had possessed a gun. Kids as young as 7 raised their hands.

"If you know someone who has a gun, stay away, and tell someone," the elder Fisher said.

"If someone tries to convince you to join a gang, tell them 'no' and tell an adult," he advised.

Instead of guns, gangs and violence, the hip-hop campaign focuses on getting kids into healthy habits, such as literacy and summer reading. The Fishers gave away dozens of books to students Monday. Each was a biography of a different hip hop artist.

They left students with this advice: "Listen to your mother and father, and read, read, read."